ANTIPOLO, 27 May 2006 — Talk ‘N Text finally experienced that winning feeling again, and Coca-Cola, aside from being in the losing end of it all, suffered a double blackeye which could be telling in the end.
The souped-up, superstar-laden Phone Pals snapped a six-game slide with an 83-71 decision of the Tigers last night which denied Coke outright passage into the quarterfinals of the PBA Philippine Cup at the Ynares Center.
Rookie Mark Cardona and enforcer Harvey Carey took turns in taming the Tigers, who will be made to play an extra game — against streaking Air21 tomorrow — for the right to join Red Bull and Alaska in the quarterfinals outright.
It was such a heart-rending loss for the Tigers, who opened up this tournament with four straight wins to pace the field but ended second round hostilities with just a win to show in eight games.
Worse, dropping into the wild card phase, in case of a loss in their 6 p.m. collision with the Express at the Araneta Coliseum tomorrow, puts them in danger of not being able to advance to the first round of the playoffs altogether.
“For us, the wild card phase started tonight,” said Talk ‘N Text coach Derrick Pumaren, who heaved a sigh of relief for finally winning one after that much-ballyhooed trade where he got Ren-Ren Ritualo from Air21 and Don Allado from Alaska. Cardona, whose minutes were cut when Ritualo arrived, came off the bench to pump in 20 points, including 12 in the final two periods to key the Talk ‘N Text win.
The 6-foot-4 Carey, a do-it-all forward, finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds as the Phone Pals closed out their classification round assignment a 6-10 record to be carried over into the four-team, single-round wildcard.
Red Bull and Alaska will be joined by the winner of the playoff tomorrow, with the loser joining the Phone Pals, idle Barangay Ginebra and Sta. Lucia in a single-round elimination where the team that sweeps all three games earns the right to challenge the natural topnotcher for the No. 6 spot.
Either the Express or the Tigers will gain fifth seeding as Red Bull, despite losing to the Gin Kings, 109-107 in the second game, already secured No. 3 even if the Barako wound up tied with Alaska at 9-7. Mark Caguioa scored 24 points, Jay-Jay Helterbrand added 22 and Eric Menk scored 11 of his 13 points in the fourth period as the Kings nearly squandered a 20-point lead to prevail.
Ginebra, the defending champion which is missing four key men because of different injuries, actually wound up with the same record as the Express and the Tigers, but dropped to the wildcard automatically because of an inferior quotient. Lordy Tugade hit 17 of his night-high 29 points in the fourth period for the Barako, which made a game out of it in the final quarter and nearly pulled it out of the fire.
Purefoods and San Miguel were 1-2 in the classification phase and made the semifinals automatically for their efforts aside from a rest of at least three weeks for both.
